THE GOSPEL OF THE KINGDOM OF GOD

And this gospel of the kingdom shall be preached in all the world for a witness unto all nations; and then shall the end come. Matthew 24.14

In our day the church has done a fine job of preaching the Gospel of Salvation from sin and redemption in Jesus Christ. The Gospel of the Kingdom of God, in reality, is very seldom preached or taught! Some churches preach a salvation message each and every Sunday never touching on the deeper issues of what Yeshua taught.

The disciples were commanded to preach the Kingdom of God. A kingdom is a nation. A kingdom has laws. A kingdom has citizens and a kingdom has a king. How much do we really understand the Gospel of the Kingdom?

When I was first led into understanding the Hebraic roots of the Christian faith one of the first things the set apart Spirit of God led me to study was the Biblical Calendar.

I had a desire to understand the end of the age and the Book of Revelation. I was confused with all of the prophetic teachings on the end times. It wasn’t making sense to me. Why should I study the calendar?

For two weeks I resisted studying the calendar because I knew that the Biblical calendar would require I study the Jewish calendar. I soon felt compelled to visit Israel. I signed up to go on a tour to Israel with a recommended guide and I began to study the Biblical calendar.

I had always been stuck on Daniel 7.25: And he (Antichrist) shall speak great words against the most High and shall break down the saints of the most High and think to change the times and the law; and they shall be given into his hand until a time and times and the half or dividing of a time.

Slowly I began to see that the “times and the law” that would be changed were the Biblical times and laws! The Bible time and laws are much different than the times and laws the world currently observes. We are observing the Roman Gregorian Calendar—not the Biblical calendar. https://burningbush647.blogspot.com/2017/11/gods-time-and-calendar-vs-roman.html

https://burningbush647.blogspot.com/2017/11/insightsinto-sabbath-and-calendar-our.html

I began to understand that the Kingdom of God has its own calendar and time. The world operates on other calendars and time which obscure the truth. God’s calendar contains many clues concerning the Kingdom of God and coming world events.

The feasts and holidays we are to be observing are listed in Leviticus 23, Numbers 23, and Deuteronomy 16. My calendar study led me into the study of the feasts of the Lord. Eventually I realized why we were to observe these feasts instead of the traditional Christian holidays.

These feasts contain instruction and prophetic information on the return of King Yeshua that traditional Christianity has missed by rejecting the importance of these Biblical feasts. These were exciting discoveries. The truth was setting me free! These were the Lord’s Feasts, not only the feasts the Jewish people observed.

The next phase led into understanding the importance of our being grafted into “The Commonwealth of Israel”. Ref: Ephesians 2-3.6; Romans 9-11.

This phase took years to understand and I’m still learning! Grafted into Israel is of major importance in understanding who we are, what the kingdom is, and where we are headed. It is about inheritance, identity, and the Millennial Kingdom to come.

The Church has not replaced Israel as many have been taught. It is not about being Jewish. It is about both Jew and Gentile being transformed into the image of Yeshua—it is about becoming Yeshua-ish if you will-one new man!

Abraham was not Jewish. Abraham was a Hebrew. There is a big difference. A Hebrew is one who has crossed over. Abram (A high father) crossed over (into Monotheism) and became Abraham (a father of a multitude). Abraham is never called a Jew in the Bible. He is specifically called a “Hebrew” in Genesis 14.13. This was prior to his name being changed to Abraham and his meeting with Melchizedek.

Abraham came out of idolatry and crossed over the Euphrates River. He was called out by Yahweh and became a believer in the one true God of the Universe. He is our Father, both Jew and Gentile. Essentially we both are Hebrews (until we cross over into Yeshua).

Hang in with me, there is more! We are allowing the Bible to interpret itself. Very important.

Moving unto Abraham’s descendants we arrive at Jacob who fathers the 12 tribes of Israel. Jacob’s name is changed by Yahweh to Israel. The official name of the twelve tribes is Israel = He will be a prince with God; contender with God, one that prevails with God. Note they are not yet referred to as “Jews”—we will address this later.

A careful examination will reveal that the 12 Tribes of Jacob/Israel do not include Ephraim and Manasseh, the two sons of Joseph. They are Jacob’s grandchildren. This gets very interesting.

In Genesis 48 Jacob blesses the two sons of Joseph and in verse 16 says: “Let my name be named on them and the names of my father’s Abraham and Isaac.” Israel/Jacob is adopting Ephraim and Manasseh, grafting them into the family. They are not Israel/Jacob’s sons—they are Joseph’s sons. They are being grafted into Israel the nation.

Later in Genesis 49 Jacob calls unto “his sons” in verse one. He proceeds to bless them and in verse 28 we read: “All these (his sons) are the tribes of Israel. These are in order: Reuben, Simeon, Levi, Judah, Issachar, Zebulun, Gad, Asher, Dan, Naphtali, JOSEPH, and Benjamin.

Ephraim and Manasseh are not mentioned because they have been grafted into Israel. Joseph was the first born of the wife Jacob loved—Rachel. In Jacob’s mind Joseph is the first born and through the blessing of Ephraim and Manasseh Joseph is receiving the double portion blessing of the first born son.

Now go to 1 Chronicles 5.1-2: Now the sons of Reuben, the firstborn of Israel, (for he was the firstborn, but because he defiled his father’s bed, his birthright was given unto the sons of Joseph, the son of Israel; and he was not counted as the firstborn.  For Judah prevailed above his brethren and was their prince, but the birthright was Joseph’s….

This is vital information. The birthright is given unto the sons of Joseph and the leadership is given to Judah (until Shiloh/Messiah) comes Gen 49.10). Judah, as we will see, is going to become “the Jews” as history progresses.

Joseph’s son’s mother was Asenath, the idolatrous daughter of the high priest of Egypt. Ephraim and Manasseh were most probably taught about the god’s of Egypt by their mother. Later, Ephraim will lead the northern tribes into Idolatry.

Ephraim and Manasseh represent the Gentiles or nations. They were grafted into the tribes of Israel. Later in Exodus we see Levi becoming the priests of the Lord (no land inheritance) and Ephraim and Manasseh receive land inheritance in place of Levi and their Father Joseph. Their grafting in is complete. Ephraim and Manasseh represent the gentile nations that will be grafted into ISRAEL. We are Ephraim and Manasseh.

The tribes go in and take the land of Canaan. Eventually David and Solomon become Kings. After Solomon’s death there was a rebellion. Solomon’s son Rehoboam wanted to raise taxes and the northern tribes rebelled and broke away under the Kingship of Jeroboam the Ephramite. Ref : 1 Kings 11-12.

Jeroboam becomes king of the 10 northern tribes who retain the name Israel. The southern kingdom becomes known as Judah. They are now Jehudah or as we call them today—Jews. The first mention of this is in 2 Kings 16.5-6.

Jeroboam sets up idols in Bethel and Dan and changes the Biblical feasts in 1 Kings 12.25-33. This is a shadow and type of what the gentile Christian church would do in the far future times—reject the feasts of the Lord and make up their own holidays/feasts.

The nation is now split in two. The northern kingdom of Israel, which has turned to idolatry, and the southern kingdom of Judah who retain allegiance to Yahweh. They are the modern day Jewish people who have remained true to the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. They are the Jews.

Note: In 1948 the Jewish state was named Israel. This is prophetic. Ezekiel 37 says the two sticks of Judah and Joseph (Ephraim/Manasseh) will be joined together in the future. At that time they will once again become ISRAEL. Jew and Gentile reunited under Yahweh and Yeshua his son, the KING.

We know how Assyria conquered idolatrous Israel and relocated them to Assyria. There they lost their identities and mingled into the gentile nations (Hosea 7.8-9). Read the entire book of Hosea. It chronicles how the northern tribes of Israel become the “lost tribes” and assimilate into the Gentile culture.

Later Judah will be exiled to Babylon, but be allowed to return to Judah and rebuild the temple. They had not lost their identity.

SUMMARY

We all (Jew and Gentile) begin as Father Abraham--as Hebrews when we “cross-over” into Monotheism. We are named by God “Israel”. We had a civil war and divided into Israel (Idolatrous gentiles) and Judah (Jews). Israel assimilated into the nations, Judah kept Judaism alive throughout the centuries.

Yeshua came and called us both to cross-over into Him. This process is still in progress. At a future time, in Yahweh’s own time and way, we two sticks shall become one in His hand. We will once again become known as Israel.

Yeshua will return and establish the Millennial Kingdom for a thousand years to teach all the world (Isaiah 64-66, Zecariah 12-14, Rev 20).

There will be a final rebellion (Rev 20). Then there will be a New Jerusalem and peace.

This information is documented in the Bible. It is the first step in understanding the “Gospel of the Kingdom” and how Yahweh is going to reunite Jew and Gentile once again as the nation of Israel. This is a basic “big picture” view of the Kingdom and what Yahweh is doing in these last days. This is how Jew and Gentile will become one new man in Yeshua.

It took me many years to come to this understanding. It is not the Gospel which is widely adhered to by the world, the Christian church, or Judaism. It is the truth. It has set me free. It is a stumbling block to the world.

Unity comes only through division. That is counter intuitive. The world sees unity as being all inclusive—everyone is welcome with all of their various religious beliefs. Soon that leads to dead religion with no power and man becomes the god of this religion.

We arrive at truth through winnowing. The chaff must be winnowed away. We cannot be unified until we arrive at the truth. Has there ever been a time when the world stampeded towards the truth? Never. Have we ever really been in unity? Never. It shall come at the appointed time.

Knowing the truth can be a lonely path. Yeshua walked that lonely path. The Father will draw his own unto Himself--John 14 through 17 is much to understand. There is a remnant in God. It is not always a comfortable place in which to dwell but it is our calling. The world will never understand—but Yahweh has a magnificent plan.

Below is a link to a short treatise on the Gospel of the Kingdom of God by Tessa Beswick. It should be your manual and manifesto of the Kingdom. Please take the time to prayerfully read and heed it.

https://docs.google.com/viewer?a=v&pid=sites&srcid=YmVpdC1lbC5vcmd8d3d3fGd4OjM2ZDc4MjM0NWE3Yzk2NDY